WOS TV: Exclusive Cameron Mackintosh Interview

In the same week that Les Miserables celebrated its 23rd birthday (See Photos, 9 Oct 2008), we bring you an exclusive interview with Cameron Mackintosh, producer of the show, which is the West End’s longest-running musical.

In the On Stage broadcast, the impresario, who celebrated 40 years in the theatre business last summer (See Photos, 29 Jun 2007), looks back on his professional start as a stagehand on a weekly salary of £7 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and discusses his experiences producing West End offerings Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Avenue Q and the forthcoming revival of Oliver!.

Mackintosh also owns seven West End theatres – the Noel Coward, the Gielgud, the Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, the Queen’s, the Novello and Wyndham’s – and has spent more than £35 million restoring them (See News, 10 Jan 2003). As he explains in the interview, when theatregoers visit he wants them “all treated as special people” in the refurbished surroundings.

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This interview is brought to you by On Stage, London’s biggest and best theatre TV programme for the city’s leading hotels. The service is normally only available in hotel rooms but, thanks to an exclusive relationship between Whatsonstage.com and On Stage, we can also broadcast it here on our website. For more programmes in this series, visit the On Stage section of our Whatsonstage.com Television channel by clicking here.

During his illustrious career, Cameron Mackintosh’s many other productions – mounted in the West End, on Broadway and around the world – have included Cats, Miss Saigon, Anything Goes, Side by Side by Sondheim, My Fair Lady, The Witches of Eastwick, Five Guys Named Moe, Carousel, Moby Dick and Mary Poppins.